


Beginner's Luck

by claudinedelyon



Category: SKAM (Italy)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Developing Relationship, F/M, Getting Together, Running partners to lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:40:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24612406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/claudinedelyon/pseuds/claudinedelyon
Summary: Twice a week, Gio runs the same route, in the same park, at the same time. Twice a week, the girl in the sky blue winbreaker is there as well, easily outrunning him.But after months of running past each other, all it takes is a little bit of luck and a push in the right direction for them to discover that they have more in common than their schedules.
Relationships: Eva Brighi/Giovanni Garau
Comments: 6
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> _"I've got beginner's luck, lucky through and through  
>  For the first time that I'm in love, I'm in love with you!"  
> An American in Paris_

Giovanni is not particularly a creature of habits. He does like having some kind of routine because it’s nice to know what to expect or not have to wonder what he’s supposed to do, but he doesn’t mind changing things up either. Most of the time, the thrill of trying out new things tends to outweigh the discomfort of giving himself up to the unknown.

When it comes to running, though, he’s exclusively a one-route kind of guy. It probably has to do with the fact that he is still pretty new at it but after almost two months, he has no desire for variety yet. For now, he’d rather keep his focus on his form while enjoying being able to judge exactly how much progress he makes based on where he stops compared to this tree or that trash can. It gives him benchmarks and a comforting and familiar background while he’s still figuring out breathing and how to plant his feet on the ground.

And, despite what Elia and Martino may say, his insistence on sticking to the same park and the same route has nothing to do with the girl in the sky blue windbreaker. It couldn’t possibly.

For a start, he doesn’t even know her. Has he noticed that she seems to have the same schedule as he does because she’s always here on the same days as him? Sure, but the park isn’t exactly crowded at 11 on a Tuesday or Thursday morning. Not everyone has a convenient break between classes at that time. He’s also noticed the old man who does tai chi near the entrance come rain or shine, that doesn’t mean anything,  _ Marti _ .

Sure, he does know that she is beautiful and that there’s something oddly endearing to the focus on her face as she runs past him with ease while he tries to will his legs to continue just a little bit further, just until that weirdly shaped oak that looks like a portal to some kind of fantasy world.

And she’s noticed him as well. They have never spoken, but about two weeks earlier, as the voice in his earbuds congratulated him for reaching his goal of the day and he stumbled back into walking and took a big breath of air, she had met his eyes as she rounded the corner and given him a thumbs up. He had found it so encouraging that he could almost have started running again just to feel worthy of the acknowledgement. Although, given how much his thighs had ached the next day, he might not have gone very far.

Since then, she gives him an encouraging smile whenever they run past each other. He would probably still appreciate it if it was anybody else because it’s not always easy making himself rush home from college just to go sweat in the colder and colder air of early December before heading back for his 1pm class, but there is something about her that makes his heart beat a little faster with every smile she directs at him. That or the way the path rises slightly when he turns left at the pine with the twisting branches. In any case, she's clearly here to run and not to get hit on by random dudes she doesn't know but who feel entitled to her time and attention. So, all he can do is smile back. It feels almost like running with someone without having to know exactly how much she could kick his ass in a race.

The sky is dark and overcast on this Tuesday morning so it is warmer than it’s been all week and his mind is wrapped up in the assignment he has to finish for his anthropology class. He walks into the park with intent, looking at the app on his phone that tells him that he’s supposed to run for 20 minutes straight for the first time and presumably, still make it out alive and on time to moral philosophy. He can’t say that he’s exactly looking forward to any of it but it’s his goal for the day and he’s not going to let anything – or anyone – distract him from it. He’ll run for 20 minutes, he won’t fall asleep in philosophy and he’ll nail the assignment.

Despite knowing full well that it can’t possibly have any idea how he really did, when the electronic voice in his ears finally informs him that the 20 minutes have passed and congratulates him on a good job, Giovanni wants to agree that he did do a good job. Both his lungs and his legs may be burning, and the last three minutes may have been the longest he’s ever experienced in his life, but he’s mostly happy with himself, pumped with endorphins and a little more convinced than he was two days ago that he might actually one day manage the as yet seemingly unattainable goal of 30 minutes.

He heads towards the exit since he doesn’t exactly have the luxury to linger and collapse on a bench to celebrate this victory given his tight schedule. He’s rubbing at his brow with his sleeve before the sweat that’s accumulated there can start dripping into his eyes when he collides into somebody.

“Sorry!” He immediately exclaims before he can even process the flash of light blue and a red braid flying as his not-quite running partner tries to regain her balance right in front of him. He extends a hand to help but stops himself as she seems to be doing alright by herself. She looks up at him and a flash of recognition passes through her eyes.

“I think that was actually my fault, I was looking for a different playlist and I didn’t see you, sorry.”

“I wasn’t looking either,” Gio counters, which is a testament to everything that’s going through his brain today if he hadn’t even noticed her approach.

“I guess there really wasn’t anything to be done, then,” she laughs.

“I guess not.” There’s an awkward moment of silence before he pulls himself together and reminds himself that he has a class to attend and that she had been running. “Have a good run.”

“Thanks. Have a good day.”

Just like that, her earphones are back on and she’s jogging away while Gio curses himself for not even asking for her name. Before he can have a chance to dwell on it, though, he starts striding away so he can have time to take a shower before spending his afternoon trying to understand the ramblings of his professor and turn them into half-coherent notes.

By the time Christmas break comes around, nothing has changed except that the smiles they exchange have turned more deliberate and are sometimes accompanied by a wave now that they’ve acknowledged each other. And Gio can run for 25 minutes, not quite with ease, but not feeling like complete crap either.

Between Christmas and the New Year, Martino offers to join him one day to see if all the bragging he’s been doing about his athletic achievements is actually based on facts. Giovanni once more points out that he hasn’t been bragging, he’s simply happy with his progress. Still, when Martino makes the offer, it sounds a little surreal as just a couple of years ago, he used to be in possibly even worse shape than Gio. The fact that he suddenly took to working out in their last year of high school probably has a lot to do with the fact that he had then started dating Niccolò, who was already the proud owner of an all-access gym membership.

For all that he doesn’t mind running on his own and setting his own pace, not to mention waving to the girl in the sky blue windbreaker from a distance, it’s also really nice to have somebody to run with, especially Martino who, for all his teasing, agreed to get out of bed before 11 for this and is now matching his speed to Gio’s. Or at least, it is nice until about five minutes into the run, which is when Martino mentions with a failed attempt at sounding casual one of Nico’s friends who he’s been not-so-subtly bringing up a lot around Giovanni since last summer. And when he speaks, he sounds barely out of breath, the bastard.

“What, you prefer mooning over that girl you won’t talk about instead of giving her a chance?” Martino retorts when Gio sighs as soon as he realizes where this is going.

“I’m not mooning,” Gio responds with whatever breath he can find. “And I told you I don’t mind being single.”

Martino scoffs. “Right, like I’m going to believe that.”

“Will you just stop trying to matchmake? We’re running.”

“I can multitask.”

With an effort to summon what little air is left in his lungs, Gio huffs, “I can’t.”

Martino takes the hint, or he takes pity on him, either way he stops talking and they manage to finish the run without any more mentions of the girl he’s been so adamant that Gio should meet to help him move on from his breakup with Laura. No matter how much Gio insists he’s moving on fine, nobody seems to believe him.

They’re walking leisurely to cool down, taking an extra, unnecessary lap just because they’re on break and they can when a voice calls out from behind them, startling them both.

“Martino?”

Both turning around, they find themselves face to face with the girl who has the sky blue windbreak zipped up to her chin and red hair slipping from her bun. She is holding one of her earbuds in hand, her cheeks are pink and she’s breathing hard so she’s obviously been running already and Gio would wonder how he managed to miss her again if he were not stuck on the fact that she seems to know Martino’s name.

“Hey, Eva,” he replies with surprise in his tone, which is direct confirmation that they do know each other.

Giovanni wants to know when and why, but mostly how and what could have possibly brought them where they are. Eva – as he now knows – glances towards Gio, which Martino notices, of course, before getting a smug little smile on his face that means he’s connected the dots. It’s unfair, really, that he should find himself in a position to have so much compromising information. Not only does he know the name of the mystery girl, and probably much more, but he knows she’s captured Gio’s interest, not to mention every single embarrassing that has happened to him in his life. Who even knows what he could do with that much power?

If he has a grand plan to humiliate Gio, he keeps it under wrap at least and instead makes the introduction in a surprisingly civilized manner.

“Gio, this is Eva. Eva, Giovanni.”

A slow smile blooms on her face as she looks at him with renewed interest. “Oh, you’re Gio!”

Next to him, Gio can almost feel Martino holding back a snicker but he doesn’t care because she knows who he is.

“How do you two know each other?” He focuses on the first of his many, many questions because he had been under the impression that he knew most people that Martino knows.

“She’s a...” He looks to Eva as if asking her opinion on their relationship. “A friend of a friend of Nico’s.”

She makes a face at his answer. “I was hoping I had graduated to friend of Nico’s by now.”

“Hm, he’s very picky.”

Eva laughs indulgently. “I’ll bet.”

Now that they’ve ran out of small talk and as they’re all still red in the face and sweaty, it gets a little awkward. Since she was the one who came up to them, Giovanni figures that she might not mind if the conversation keeps going so he’s about to attempt to do just that when Eva speaks again. “Sorry, but I’m already cooling down and I still have some kilometers to run, unlike some people.” She makes a point of underlining her words with a teasing smile, so all Gio can do is grin back.

“Hey, I’m still a beginner. Give me some time and I’ll catch up with you.”

“I’m sure you will,” she agrees, which Gio will take as a good sign. Of what, he doesn’t know yet, but a good sign nonetheless.

She’s about to her earbuds back into place when she aborts her gesture as if remembering something. "Oh, by the way, you guys probably already have plans, but Fede's hosting a New Year's party and when Fede hosts, the theme is always the more, the merrier."

Before Gio can move past the fact that she’s just invited them to a party, Martino chimes in.

"Which Fede?" His tone sounds oddly suspicious and when Gio glances at him, he finds him staring at Eva who is staring right back.

"Federica, obviously,” she replies with a raised eyebrow that seems meant to convey something.

Gio doesn't know Federica or any other Fedes, all he knows is that he's never hated admitting that they already have New Year's plans so much.

"Sorry, we're leaving tomorrow to go skiing for a few days."

"Shame,” she comments with a small shrug. “I'll see you here when you get back, then."

Gio can’t help the beam he knows is growing on his face but she doesn’t seem to mind and he already assumes that Martino’s going to be insufferable for the rest of the day, so he might as well enjoy it before she goes.

"Sure. See you next year," he replies before he can bite back the words, which make both Martino and Eva groan.

This time, she does put both earbuds back in her ears and starts walking around them with a wave. After just a few steps, she turns back one more time and calls in their direction just before she starts running again,

“Hey, Marti, say hi to that friend of Sana’s, will you?”

They follow in her trail until she disappears at a fork in the path and unconsciously pick up the pace, already feeling a rush of cold after standing still for several minutes. They keep going in silence and it is only once the exit is in sight that Martino snorts, seemingly to himself.

“What?” Gio retorts, ready for whatever he’s about to dish out.

“I knew you were mooning.”

Gio pushes him straight into the very well-placed trash can that marks the start of his usual route for that. But he doesn’t deny it.

By an improbable stroke of luck, Elia texts them as soon as they are back out on the street to ask about some last-minute arrangements for their departure early the next day and they get distracted by anticipating what could go wrong as they make their way to Sestriere.

By the time they make it home and Gio comes out of the shower to start looking for something to eat, Martino has unfortunately had time to start thinking about what happened. So, when Gio emerges from the bathroom trying to get his hair to stay out of his eyes, Martino follows him into the kitchen and just shakes his head in a way that doesn’t make it quite clear who the gesture is meant for.

“Dude, I knew Eva ran, I wish I had put two and two together. So many possibilities to torture you that I missed out on.”

“Yeah, well, that’s your own fault. I can’t believe I didn’t know you knew her.”

“Hey, no, that’s not on me,” Martino denies vehemently. “I’ve been trying to tell you!”

Gio, who had just opened a cabinet, bangs it shut in surprise. “What?”

“That’s who I was telling you about.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? That girl you’re always talking about, that was Eva?”

“Yes!”

Gio scratches his head, undoing all his hard work.

“Are you actually saying we could have met, like, last year?”

To his credit, Martino does attempt to hold back the smile, but he still shrugs casually.

“You should have come to Nico’s birthday, Gio.”

Now, that feels unfair because it was not exactly Giovanni’s fault that he had missed every one of Nico’s birthday parties, which everybody was always raving about for days afterwards.

“My mom’s birthday’s the same day as his, I wasn’t going to ditch her.”

Martino’s expression softens because he knows that, after having lost her own father on her birthday, Gio’s mother likes to have all her kids with her on that day, even if they never make a big fuss about celebrating.

“She was also at the trip to Salento,” Martino adds unhelpfully.

Gio gives him a look. “Yeah, and I was in London with Laura.”

“Then, I don’t know, Gio, I haven’t hung out with her and the other girls that much either. And who cares anyway? You met her another way and now you can actually talk to her.” Martino bites his lip for a second, then smiles. “And stop fucking pining.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that Martino being the one who introduces Gio and Eva goes against literally everyhing in canon but hear me out: I enjoy the irony.


	2. Chapter 2

On the first Tuesday after the end of break, he finds Eva stretching by the entrance of the park. She stops when she notices him approach and immediately gestures him over, which seems to point out to the fact that she had been waiting for him.

“Happy new year!” She greets him happily before they exchange a quick, one-arm hug.

Despite the fact that, predictably, Martino had seized the first opportunity that presented itself to tell the guys all about Gio and Eva not-quite-meeting without realizing that they had friends in common and that the guys had just as predictably spent the entire trip talking about it, Giovanni will not deny that he owes his best friend for having allowed him to graduate from distant waves to actual hugs. 

“Happy new year. How was Fede’s party?”

That gets him a grin as she seems to appreciate that he remembered the name she had mentioned almost two weeks ago. He feels that he doesn’t quite deserve the credit as he had spent several days trying to convince Martino to tell him who that other Fede might be, but he had refused to talk.

“A complete mess, but that was to be expected. How was skiing? You don’t seem to have broken anything at least.”

“Skiing was fucking cold and wet. And I couldn’t risk messing up my running schedule with a broken leg or something.”

“Such dedication. Speaking of cold and running, you want to get going?” She then points towards the path he usually follows.

“Do you mean running together?”

“Sure, if you don’t mind. It usually helps to run with someone else.”

Gio wholeheartedly agrees in theory, and he certainly wouldn’t mind this particular company, but he is also keenly aware of how much of a beginner he is compared to Eva.

“I’m very slow, though. That’s going to be boring for you.”

“It’s not necessarily about the speed,” she replies with a shrug. “It’s good to work on endurance as well. When I started, I used to run with my boyfriend, it helped.”

The words make something twist painfully in Giovanni’s chest, but the distinct lack of anybody running with Eva for the past two months convinces him that there is still some hope to hold out.

“Yeah? And what happened? Did you end up outrunning him?”

She smiles at his question, but it’s not a very happy smile and he wishes he could take back the words even before she answers. “No, kind of the opposite actually.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“Don’t worry, I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have liked the idea of someone outrunning him anyway. So, you’re in?”

The way she changes of topic is obvious, but they also have limited time and are currently standing around in a cold January morning, so he doesn’t push further and certainly doesn’t mention that he wouldn’t mind being outrun by her.

“I’m in.”

She does outrun him, about one lap in, when she motions that she’s going to follow another, longer route and they take separate paths with a wave goodbye. The same thing happens on Thursday, the next week, and then, the week after that. By then, Gio has reached his coveted goal of 30 minutes, not without difficulty, but consistently. He’s still not going as fast as he would like, but now that he knows he can make it, he can start focusing his efforts on speed.

At the beginning of February, they’ve been running for just a few minutes at a nice and steady pace that works for them both when Eva suddenly turns to him.

“I forgot to ask you. There’s a race in May to raise awareness for breast cancer. Do you want to sign up?”

“A race? Who am I supposed to race with? A turtle?” He may have been making progress, but he’s still got a long way to go, especially to take part in a race, especially as uttering those few words are enough to make him out of breath.

“It’s for a good cause, so your time doesn’t actually matter. I went last year, it goes through the whole city center, it’s a pretty cool experience.”

They take a turn into a long avenue while he turns the idea around, finding it more and more attractive each time he examines it. Now that he’s reached his first goal, it might be a good idea to set a new one.

“Why not? How long is it?”

“It’s 10 kilometers.”

That almost stops him dead in his tracks, but he manages to catch himself in time and to keep going despite how utterly unreachable that number seems right now. 

“Eva,” he breathes out to try and save his air for the rest of the run, “I can barely run 5 kilometers, how am I going to run 10?”

“By training. With me.”

The only answer he can give her is a nod because he has no idea how to refuse such an invitation, but luckily she catches the movement and glances at him to see that he’s breathing harder than he should.

“Sorry, we can talk about it later. I just thought it might be fun.”

Not for the first time since they started running together, he wishes he could trust his lungs not to give up on him halfway through a sentence so they could do more than just exchange greeting and goodbyes. As they both have places to go once they’re done, they haven’t had time for more than small talk and air is too precious a commodity during the run to waste on anything else.

“Don’t worry,” she adds, seemingly reading his very thoughts. “You’ll see, one of these days, you’ll be able to do the whole thing without shutting up.”

He turns to her with a smile. “I hope so.”

The next week, Gio has made a resolution. He’s looked up the race Eva mentioned and he’s going to register for it. He’s also going to, in Elia’s words, get his shit together and ask for her number so they are no longer limited to two-minute conversations before and after a run.

For once, she’s not here waiting for him when he walks into the park so, taking a page from her book, he attempts some stretches to avoid freezing in the particularly cold morning.

After five minutes, there is still no sign of Eva and Gio starts considering starting without her since he has no way of knowing if she’s actually coming. The clothes he is wearing may be good for running in the cold, but they are not for standing around and keeping him from turning into a walking popsicle and it’s getting harder and harder to warm himself up.

If she’s just late, she will have no problems catching up with him, and if something has come up, he will at least have gotten in his usual run, which if anything tends to help making moral philosophy less excruciating to follow. Trying to swallow the disappointment at not seeing her and the hint of guilt, he walks up to their usual starting point when a voice comes up from behind him.

“Excuse me, are you Giovanni?”

He turns around to find a dark-haired girl looking at him inquiringly. She sounds out of breath, but given the boots and jeans she’s wearing, he guesses that she hasn’t been among the few runners who have already spread out throughout the park.

“I’m a Giovanni, I don’t know if I’m the one you’re looking for.”

“Eva’s sick,” she answers, putting an end to any doubt that she might have gotten the wrong person. “She’s staying home today, she says sorry,” the girl continues, wrapping her arms tight around herself to keep warm. “She said that you might wait for her.” Her expression turns curious as she finishes speaking and Gio starts to feel almost like he’s being sized up.

“Shit, is she okay?”

“She has an ear infection so not great, but nothing that should be fatal, whatever she may say.”

He winces in sympathy, remembering the painful ear infections his brother used to get every winter when he was younger. “Sorry to hear that. But thanks for passing on that message, even if it’s cold.”

The girl’s expression softens a little at that and she smiles as she buries her chin into her scarf.

“Yes, she‘s definitely going to owe me for that. So, I’m going to head back, it’s really, really cold and you’re both crazy for running in that weather.”

“That’s fair,” Gio replies with a laugh as a well-timed shiver runs through his body. He’s really going to have to get running soon or he might be the one off sick by the end of the week.

The girl turns around and starts walking away when an idea occurs to him and he calls her back.

“Wait…” He trails off, realizing he doesn’t even know her name.

“Sorry, I’m Eleonora.”

“Do you think I could give you my number to pass on to Eva? So you don’t have to carry messages in the cold again.”

Eleonora gives him a look that is not fooled, not for a second, by his concern for her health but after a second of reflection, she takes out her phone and unlocks it before handing it to him. “Sure, go ahead.”

He’s almost back at his apartment after a singularly boring run when his phone buzzes in his pocket. The notification tells him that there’s a message from Eva waiting for him and he unlocks the phone as quickly as his fingers let him.

"Sorry for bailing on you today," he reads before wiping his hands over his sweatpants before responding.

"I heard you might be dying, so I forgive you." It isn't easy to type with still clammy hands and in the cold winter wind, so by the time he sends the text, he’s back in the warmth of his building. Of course, there is no service in the elevator, so he has to wait impatiently until he’s on his landing before a response pops up on the screen. "I knew Ele could sell it. How was the run?"

"Freezing,” he types while maneuvering his front door and heading to the kitchen for some water, “but I went as far as the third light after the backless bench."

"Hey, that's progress, good for you."

The sight of the clock on the microwave reminds him that he is now on a tight schedule to shower, eat and head back to college and with the correct textbook this time, so despite wanting nothing more than to ask Eva about everything she has been up to in the past week, he has to make himself put down the phone for now. That doesn’t stop him from spending a good minute dwelling on the thought that she seemed to remember where he had stopped last time. And then, the water which had been heating up suddenly turns scorching and he reigns in the thoughts to focus on what needs to be done.

While his food is in the microwave, he stares at the lack of new message on WhatsApp as he tries to figure out something he could send Eva to cheer her up. Whenever he was sick, his brother had liked books about animal facts, but then again, his brother had been 9 when he used to get chronic ear infections.

The memory, however, sparks another idea. If there is one thing he doesn’t think very many people could resist, it is pictures of baby animals. After all even at his grumpiest, Martino has been known to spare a smile for a passing puppy and Elia had once paused mid-rant at a squeak from Luca’s brother’s guinea pig. He eats the unequally heated food while looking through baby animal gifs and choses a young koala all wrapped up in its mom’s fur. Hesitating for a second, he adds “Hope you feel better” as a caption, then sends the text and turns his thoughts back to making it to class.

He slides into his usual seat towards the back of the classroom and takes out his phone again to text Elia about the fact that one of them is going to have to bite the bullet and go grocery shopping before they starve, to find a line of exclamation marks across his screen. Eva’s reply had been sent at some point during his dash towards campus and concludes with “Already feeling better, but just in case I’m not up to it on Thursday, I’ll see you next week.”

Of course, they’ve never had to discuss that they would be meeting up to run, it’s always been a given that they would both be there because they already were before they even exchanged a single word, but Gio can’t help but feel that this “next week” makes it feel different. It’s not just convenience or their schedules matching up by chance, it’s a plan. It’s a promise.

The professor is walking into the room as he replies “In that case, the doctor prescribes more koalas to hasten recovery” and he then proceeds to spend most of the class texting her every picture of koala he can find.

Unfortunately, despite practically exhausting the koala supply available on the Internet, Eva is not back on her feet by Thursday, and the run is even more boring than the last one despite Gio blasting a playlist she had texted him during his morning class. It makes him wonder how he ever used to do this on his own. Luckily, by the next week, the weather has warmed up and Eva is fully recovered and itching to catch up on her missed week.


	3. Chapter 3

They run through the end of winter, through the very last frost and the downpours of early March. They meet twice every week without exception, run, go their separate ways and spend the rest of the week texting each other.

On one particular morning, when the sky seems almost black with clouds and the rain pummels the pavement and threatens to turn into hail, they stand under a bus stop and contemplate the water streaming down the park alleys before exchanging a glance and finding refuge in a café just across the street. The place is small and crowded and the coffee is mediocre at best, but when Giovanni finally thinks to check his phone, it’s already almost time for him to make his way back to class, and he doesn’t even have his backpack with him. Only then does he realize that he does not have any money on him and after Eva takes out a small coin purse from one of the many pockets of the sky blue windbreaker, he promises to return the favor very soon before dashing through the rain to get back to his place. He is late to moral philosophy for the first time of the semester that day.

After the rain stops, they run as the first flowers start to bloom along the paths of the park. They mostly run together now, with Gio finishing his allotted time first while Eva keeps going. By the time he’s walked back to the park entrance, he usually finds her already stretching. As glad as he is of his progress compared to where he was at Christmas, there is one crucial flaw in the plan to keep running longer and longer. Because he finishes running later, he now has to rush back to his flat to change and shower with no time to eat and even less time to have a chance to talk to Eva. Thursdays aren’t much better as Eva is the one who has to rush off as soon as she’s done running, sometimes already gone when he comes back to their starting point. When that happens, he’s always a little disappointed that he didn’t get a chance to see her one more time before separating until the next week, but he also always finds a goodbye text waiting for him after he comes out of the shower.

The only silver lining is that with the arrival of spring, the end of the semester is drawing near and although it means a change of schedule for both of them, it also means way more chances to spend time together doing anything but running. 

With their groups of friends already well acquainted with each other, Gio keeps hoping that they will at some point end up in the same place at the same time. But the girls always seem to go off to the mountains somewhere or to have plans with other friends. Meanwhile, as soon as the weather starts warming up, the guys keep begging to head off to his aunt’s place and everybody’s college friends are inviting them left and right.

Twice only do their social schedules seemed to match up. The first time, when Niccolò and his roommate throw a party, Eva happens to be away all weekend for her cousin’s wedding. The second time, when Filippo decides to have everybody over, Gio is the one who ends up in bed with a stomach bug.

With the perspective of two dates on the horizon, the Race for the Cure and not long after that the end of the finals, Gio’s never wanted a semester to end quite so badly.

Ten days before the race, as Gio had begun to think that he would never manage it in time and to consider that he might have to forfeit participating so as not to completely humiliate himself, Gio finishes his first 10K. It’s a Thursday and some kind of deity must be on his side, because Eva’s class has been cancelled so she’s in no rush for once. When he stumbles to their starting point with his chest on fire and the certainty that his legs will never agree to obey him ever again, she greets him with her hands raised in the air and a cheer before pushing a bottle of something in his face that he’s pretty sure she didn’t have when she got here.

He takes the bottle without giving it too much consideration because he’s parched and nothing in his body feels like it’s working anymore. He takes a long gulp, not expecting anything in particular, but when he recognizes the taste, he takes a curious look at the pinkish drink.

“Is that grapefruit?”

“Yes, I figured this called for some sort of celebration and I’m not sure wine would be recommended so soon after running.”

He takes another, slower drink this time, while his chest is still heaving for air. “How could you possibly know I was going to finish it today?”

“I had a good feeling," she replies simply.

“I didn’t,” he counters, wiping his brow with the back of his hand before sweat can trickle down into his eyes. “I didn’t think I was going to do it.”

She opens her arms as if to encompass the park around them. “And yet.”

“It must have been beginner’s luck.”

“Yeah, probably.”

As he takes another sip of the juice, he wonders when he could have mentioned it. He doesn’t have any memory of how he would have ended up bringing up his juice preferences but they must have because something at the back of his mind tells him that Eva likes apricot. The assumption is mostly based on a vague memory he has of making some joke about her hair color.

“And you remembered the grapefruit,” he points out because it seems important that she did.

Her eyes fall to the bottle in his hand and she winces. “Yes, because who else could possibly like that? It’s the worst juice, Gio.”

“It’s under-appreciated.”

“It’s gross.”

“Anyway, thank you. I appreciate you going against your principles, then.”

“You’re welcome, don’t get used to it.” Her smile seems to contradict her words so he doesn’t take it that seriously.

“So, if I finish the race, I won’t be getting any more juice?”

Now that his breathing has started progressively evening out, he starts doing his usual stretches while Eva steps out of the way of other passersby to watch him do it. Under any other circumstances, he would probably feel embarrassed because stretches are kind of awkward to do under someone else’s scrutiny, but Eva has by now seen him in far less flattering situations, including that time he had thought running after pulling an all-nighter to finish an essay had been a good idea.

“For finishing your first race?” She makes a skeptical face. ”I was thinking we could maybe aim a little higher than a bottle of grapefruit juice. It’s kind of a big deal.”

He looks up, still holding his right foot in his hand to stretch out his thigh as he tries to pinpoint her tone. There is some hesitation, but also - and Gio’s pretty sure he’s reading this right - it sounds a lot like an invitation. Unfortunately, now that he’s no longer paying attention to what he’s doing, he loses his focus and with it his balance and has to hold on to the trunk of a nearby plane tree to avoid literally falling at her feet.

“Like you said, it’s my first race, so I’m deferring to the expert. But if you think it’s the way to go, that sounds good.”

As her face lightens up and loses any trace of doubt, she twirls a strand of hair between her fingers to attempt to put it back into her braid but she keeps looking at him in the meantime.

“I think it is.”

He has to put his foot down then because there’s no way he can focus on anything other than the implied promises that are being made and the grin he can feel growing on his face.

“Now I’m really going to have to finish that race, uh.”

After huffing a short laugh, she crinkles her nose thoughtfully. “Fortunately, it looks like luck’s been on your side so far.”

Ten days later, however, beginner’s luck seems like a distant memory.

This might actually be the longest hour of his life, longer than any physics test he’s ever taken in high school, longer than his breakup with Laura which had seemed to endlessly stretch out, even longer than his great-aunt’s stories about people he has never met.

He’s been running for over 50 minutes, but it feels like he may never stop running, even though by now he can see the finish line, far away in the background, at the end of the street, which might as well be in a different city.

Maybe that’ll be his punishment for the more questionable decisions he’s made in the past, he’ll have to keep running despite being already tired, thinking the end is in sight but never reaching it, like that guy with his rock whose name he can never remember. Maybe running will be his rock.

Or maybe the exhaustion has started to get to his brain and he’s started having flashbacks from that book on Greek mythology he loved as a kid.

It seems counter-intuitive, but he’s pretty sure it had not been quite so painful the first few times he had managed to run 10 whole kilometers. Maybe it’s just that there’s been this nervousness coursing through his veins all of yesterday and this morning at having to actually do this now and at a deeper level he hasn’t let himself think of for too long, at whatever may happen once the race is over.

Eva must be somewhere ahead of him, or even past the finish line already. They had kept level for the first three quarters of the race until the stitch in his side had forced him to slow down and he had waved her away to keep going. Although she had offered to stick with him, she had seemed so excited all week that it hadn’t seemed fair to dampen her enjoyment, not when they’ve been running side by side for so long now.

The banner that marks the finish line is getting bigger now, he can almost read the whole thing, so the hope that there might actually be an end to this blooms in his chest again. He stops himself from checking his phone to know how much is left, not sure if whatever number is displayed will make him feel any better or worse. With a conscious effort, he picks up his feet which have started dragging on the pavement and tries to take deeper breaths.

And suddenly, without fully realizing how it happened, the Porta Capena opens up before him so maybe he won’t have to push the rock back up this time. There are people yelling names around him and just as his feet cross the line and he can finally slow down and go back to walking, he recognizes his own name. Looking up before he collapses where he stands, he easily finds Elia, Luca and Martino jumping up and down and screaming their heads off and without making a conscious decision, heads in their direction.

As soon as he’s past the safety barriers keeping the audience to the sides, he falls into Martino’s arms and the others join in immediately, without a care for how sweaty and gross he must be right now. It feels great to finally not have to move anymore and to let the three pairs of arms support him while the guys break out in cheers and congratulations that are only about 50% sarcastic, which means that he must look really terrible.

When they take a step back to let him down an entire bottle of water, another familiar voice rings out and Niccolò joins in, closely followed by Eleonora and behind her, surrounded by three other girls he doesn’t know, red-faced and with her hair sticking to her forehead, is Eva.

She’s talking with the blond girl next to her when she catches his eyes and immediately interrupts what she had been saying to walk up to him.

“Hey, you made it!”

Everybody turns to her and there is much more snickering and knowing glances than he would have liked in an ideal world, but that all falls to the side when he remembers that he is here, having just run his first race, and that Eva is in front of him, looking possibly more beautiful than she ever has, with messy hair falling out of a bun and eyes shining with joy.

“I can’t believe you made me do this,” he pants, leaning forward now that he no longer has anybody holding him up to rest his hands on his knees.

She laughs and he dimly registers the others stepping aside, although at least one of them whistles at them, and it sounds a lot like Nico. In an attempt to not completely lose face, he stands up again and meets Elia’s eyes over Eva’s shoulder. With just a raise of an eyebrow and a hint of a smirk, Elia grabs Luca to turn him around and give them some semblance of privacy.

“Wasn't it worth it, though?”

“Give me a few minutes before I can say for sure.” He points to his still heaving chest, which is not even to mention how he’s going to manage to get home given how his legs and feet feel right now.

“Still, you did really great.”

“Ah,” he replies, suddenly self-conscious, because she and a lot of people made it in way less time than he did. “It’s just a race.”

She squeezes his arm briefly. “No, come on, it’s a big deal. Congratulations.”

At that, she opens her arms and as he happily sinks into the hug, her words bring back to his mind a promise that had been made, something about aiming higher than a bottle of juice.

So, when she holds tight for a second and whispers, “I told you you’d catch up”, he pulls back just enough to be able to look at her. Normally, he wouldn’t think of it when there are so many people around and he’s still covered in sweat, not to mention that their friends are right there and definitely eavesdropping, but the endorphins are still flowing to his brain and Eva is looking back and he doesn’t think he’s ever flown so high in his life.

When he leans in ever-so-slightly, his heart is still racing, but it’s not just from the running anymore. Eva smiles and wraps her arm around his neck.

He kisses her and he ignores the cheers in the background and whichever one of their friends shushes the others. He kisses her and tastes the salt of sweat on her lips and something sweet he can’t and doesn't try to identify. She kisses him back and his hand brushes through the strands of hair that have fallen over her shoulders. She’s warm from running and from the mid-May sun, and as long as she keeps kissing him, he forgets about sore muscles or the looming threat of finals.

Unfortunately, they have to break apart much sooner than he wants to because they’ve both just ran 10 kilometers and as more people cross the finish line, the crowd pressing around them keeps growing. Still, they don’t move, letting people flow around them while Gio drinks in the moment and the sight before him. Eva doesn’t let him bask in it for long, though, because soon she’s leaning in again and standing on the tip of her toes while he wraps both arms around her waist to hold her even closer.

The sweet taste is still there, although fading, and it’s only when the image of a flash of red hair and of the colorful bottle the blond girl had had in her hand crosses his thoughts that he figures out what it is. Apricot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Race for the Cure is actually 5 kilometers, but I wanted to make it a little bit more of a challenge.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


End file.
